Tenn. plant, Pantex eye 10-year contract

The National Nuclear Security Administration officially opened the bidding process Wednesday on a new wide-reaching management and operation contract for Pantex and a Tennessee nuclear weapons facility.

The request for proposals focuses on a potential 10-year contract that includes a five-year base period and three optional extension terms for another five years, according to the 333-page document.

The merger would include operations at Pantex and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., as well as an option to phase in the Savannah River Site Tritium Operations in South Carolina.

Babcock & Wilcox, through different subsidiaries, currently manages and operates the three nuclear sites under separate government contracts.

To date, the agency has not specified any possible job losses. Pantex’s unionized workers and guards have said the merger likely would cost jobs.

As part of the consolidation, the NNSA would create a single nuclear production site office with one site manager, who will oversee operations at Y-12 and Pantex. The physical locations of the sites would not change because of the merger, NNSA officials have said.

Workers at the Pantex Plant, located 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, assemble, dissemble and modify nuclear weapons and manufacture high explosive components. Since 2001, B&W Pantex has managed and operated the Carson County site, which employs more than 3,000 workers.

Agency officials — who announced in June their intention to issue a draft proposal — estimate about $895 million in potential savings over 10 years, not including possible changes to employee benefits.

NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha said Wednesday the agency cannot determine the cost of the new contract until officials review the bids from interested corporations.

But a Government Accountability Office report released in September questioned the proposed consolidation and savings. The report cited “the limited details available about the actual work that will be consolidated.”

In a response letter attached to the report, the nuclear agency largely agreed with the GAO’s recommendations, while still supporting its decision to move forward with consolidation plans.

“The NNSA does not agree that similar cost efficiencies could be obtained without a contract consolidation,” the response said.

The GAO report estimated that about 1,000 support service jobs could be eliminated over the next 10 years because of the consolidation.

Union officials previously have raised concerns about potential job cuts at Pantex and Y-12. Metal Trades Council President Clarence Rashada, who represents unionized Pantex workers, did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the proposal, the corporation that wins the contract will offer buyouts to employees in the event the restructuring prompts layoffs.

The NNSA also has announced a separate contract consolidation for protective forces at Pantex, Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Protective force work at Pantex, which is part of the government contract, is now provided by B&W Pantex.

In the proposal released Wednesday, the NNSA removed the protective force options from the management contract in an effort to pursue a separate bidding process for the facility’s guards.

The agency is seeking a combined, streamlined guard force that can serve the facilities at a reduced cost, according to the NNSA website. But job losses among the facility’s unionized guards are also points of concern.

Pantex Guard Union President Frank White did not return calls for comment Wednesday. The union has said it opposes the management contract consolidation.

McConaha said Wednesday that any bidder will be bound by each agreement for each site.“What’s in place in June 2012 is what the new contractor would be required to abide by,” he said. “It’s whatever is in place when they take over.”

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, was not available for comment Wednesday because he was involved in the defense authorization bill debate taking place on the House floor.